Harry Treleaven Jr., 76, Ad Pioneer

OBITUARIES

December 21, 1998|THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — Harry Treleaven Jr., an advertising executive and early political consultant who is credited with creating the "Nixon's the One!" slogan for the 1968 presidential campaign, died on Dec. 9 at the Sarah Neuman Nursing Home in Mamaroneck, N.Y. He was 76 and lived in Manhattan and Amagansett, N.Y.

A former wife, Elsie Lawall Treleaven, said the cause was heart failure.

Mr. Treleaven (pronounced TRELL-eh-ven) was one of the first practitioners of techniques that are used commonly in politics today in the packaging and handling of candidates. Though he was not the best known of Richard Nixon's Republican brain trust in the 1968 campaign, he played an important role in setting its tone and conveying the desired image to the public.

Some of his contributions were recorded by Joe McGinniss in his book about the campaign, The Selling of the President, for which McGinniss received access to Mr. Treleaven's confidential staff memorandums. In one memorandum quoted by McGinniss, Mr. Treleaven discussed how the campaign had to turn Nixon's liabilities into assets. "Not always loved, he is universally respected," Mr. Treleaven wrote. "Not glamorous, he does have a certain star quality going for him."

Mr. Treleaven conceded that there were some negatives to Nixon's personality, but said, "If we recognize them, deal with them intelligently instead of worrying about them, their effect can be minimized."

There was, for example, Nixon's apparent lack of humor. "Can be corrected to a degree," Mr. Treleaven wrote, "but let's not be too obvious about it."

On another of the candidate's shortcomings, warmth, Mr. Treleaven wrote, "He can be helped greatly in this respect by how he is handled, by what he says and how he says it."

In another memorandum, Mr. Treleaven wrote of Nixon's pictures: "Avoid closeups."

Mr. Treleaven was born in Oak Park, Ill., and graduated from Duke University, where he was editor in chief of The Duke Chronicle. He rose to the rank of lieutenant while serving with the Navy's Seabees in the South Pacific during World War II.

After the war he wrote plays for radio shows like The Whistler in California and then moved to New York as an executive at the J. Walter Thompson agency.

Treleaven's first political job was as consultant to George Bush's congressional campaign.

Mr. Treleaven is survived by a son from his first marriage, to Joan Westphal, Gregory Treleaven of Boston; two children from his second marriage, to Elsie Lawall Treleaven, Bruce Treleaven of Montclair, N.J., and Gwyneth Claiborne of Fairfield, Conn., and four grandchildren.